The Last One
by Depps My Husband
Summary: this is my view of what the last episode ever of Instant Star should be. Inspired by the YOUR DREAM IS FINALE on DLS, this is the outcome. hope you enjoy. it's reaaaall long though :


The breathing was heavy, the mood was progressing, and Tommy and Jude were in their own world. Slowly, she pulled him closer, but his response only laid them down on the couch they were on. With her hands tangled in his hair, she felt his own run along her back underneath her shirt, and Jude knew exactly what was going to happen. Tommy broke the kiss, and Jude instantly connected her lips to his neck, kissing the spot behind his ear, as she heard, "Lets… You wanna move this to the, uh…" trying to catch his breath, "to the bed… bedroom?"

Before they knew it, their bedroom door crashed open. Tommy walking in backwards—his lips never leaving Jude's until the back of his knees hit the mattress and they both fell onto the bed. Lying atop him, she pulled his shirt off as they both shuffled up to the head of the bed. His hands worked the button on her jeans, only leaving once to allow Jude to move his shirt from his shoulder before she worked on getting her own shirt off. Wanting more control of the situation, after successfully undoing her pants, he rolled her over to lie on her back as she breathed out, "Get the…" but Tommy was a step ahead of her.

Reaching for the nightstand drawer, he felt Jude place her lips on his neck, making it hard for him to concentrate on the current situation. With his hand on the handle he pulled open the drawer and the box of condoms were in plain view, but he wasn't reaching for them.

"Do you have it? We're not out are we?" Jude asked, as she stared up to Tommy; his lost expression worrying her.

Her lips placing a soft kiss on his cheek shook him from his thoughts, as he looked to her before blurting out, "Let's have a baby."

And those four simple words caused Jude's eyes to double as she stared at the man before her. Those four words broke Jude's lips from his body, and oh yeah, they dropped the mood for her as well.

**Opening Credits**

Sitting at the end of the bed with his elbows on his knees and head in his hands, Tommy watched as Jude placed one of his t-shirts over herself, still a little shaken from his statement. His belt was still unbuckled, and pants still undone, but unlike Jude, his comment was more important than getting dressed.

"You realize when you're about to have _sex_… the word baby should **never** be brought up?" she told him while taking a seat next to him.

"I know…" he said quietly, feeling her hand set on his thigh.

Watching him sulk, her heart broke for him. "I love you, Tommy, but a baby… We can't have a baby."

He was quick to respond on that one as he sat up straighter and asked, "Why not? We can do it."

Scoffing, "Because our careers aren't hectic enough?"

"Put our careers aside for a while, Jude. It's not like we can't afford to." He countered, not wanting to give up on this.

She couldn't help but let a small chuckle slip through, "You're not serious. I'm not gonna stop recording."

"Not permanently. But just a few years off. I mean, I'm not saying lock up the pen and paper. Hell, you could even still record."

With sarcasm, "Because Darius would love a crying baby in the studio?"

He shrugged, "What if we moved into a house? I could build a studio and we wouldn't have to leave home."

Sighing, it hurt her to having to keep telling him no when it seemed he'd put thought into this. "Tommy…"

Before she could finish her sentence he took her hands with his own and had her face him. "Jude we can do this. I promise."

Another sigh escaped as she let her eyes leave his. Gripping his hands, she looked up with a slight bit of hope in her eyes. "Okay." She nodded watching him smile like a little school boy, "Lets have sex _without_ a condom and… I guess... I guess work from there."

So happy, he quickly captured her lips in a kiss, and she couldn't help but giggle at how excited he was over this. Both smiling through the kiss, they leaned back down on the bed to continue what they had started, wondering for whatever the outcome would be.

"Never have kids, Jude." Sadie advised, holding a crying two year old in her arms.

Jude chuckled as she closed the car door and picked up her nieces' diaper bag. "Funny you should say that."

"I'm serious." Sadie said over her shoulder, before stepping onto the sidewalk and up to the door of a neighborhood restaurant. "She hasn't stopped crying since four-thirty this morning."

"Three?" came the voice of the hostess as she quickly jumped to the girls the second they walked through the door.

Jude nodded, "Yes please."

"Right this way." The hostess replied before leading them to a booth near the back.

Jude took a seat as Sadie placed her daughter in a highchair, and taking the crayons and coloring paper from the hostess to hopefully quiet her. "Look, Aubrey, do you wanna color?" Taking a orange crayon, she handed it to Aubrey, "It's Nemo, baby girl. Color the fish, sweetie."

"Nemo?" Aubrey asked as her tears started to fade away.

Sadie nodded, thankful for the crying to be put to a stop. "Yes. Want to color Nemo?"

"She's getting so big." Jude commented as Sadie sat across from her.

Shaking her head, Sadie looked back to Jude after making sure Aubrey was settled. "It's crazy."

"Not as crazy as what I have to tell you." She replied, knowing she had said enough to get Sadie's full attention.

"Oo. Do tell." Her sister responded just as expected. "I haven't heard any good gossip since Speid and Taryn got back together."

"Lets hope that's permanent. I don't think Dad can take anymore of them breaking up and then hooking up—"

"Kinda like when you and Tommy went through that stage and Dad was ready to kill Tommy?" Sadie cut in, with a knowing smile.

Jude laughed, "He probably would've if it weren't for the Justin thing. Dad praises Tommy every time he sees him now."

Nodding her head, "Thank God he's got Lauren to keep his calm."

"Yeah, I don't get the big deal of it though. It's my relationship, not his."

"But he's already failed a marriage, and you and Tommy are real serious."

Jude nodded, understanding what she meant. "Yeah, but Taryn's not even his kid."

"Step kid… Same thing." Sadie replied with a shrug. "We claim her as our little sister."

Jude bobbed her head back and forth before nodding in agreement. "Yeah. And she makes Speid happy too. Poor guy having to get a divorce at twenty."

Sadie snickered. "Poor guy shouldn't have been sneaking around with Taryn behind Karma's back."

"Oh, if anything Taryn saved Speed from a lot of heartache and drama." Jude replied, overlooking the menu. A chuckle came forth as a memory struck, "I remember the night Taryn came home and she started freaking out 'cause she didn't know Speed was married."

Shaking her head, Sadie put her hands up, "Okay, enough about Speed and Taryn. What's this news you got for me?"

Jude took a deep breath before letting her attention drift to the menu in front of her. "Well… It's kinda not that important really."

"Kinda not important?" Sadie mimicked, "Spill Jude." She told her before taking the menu from her sister's hands. "And don't give me that look. You get the same thing here every time."

Rolling her eyes, she continued to keep her eyes from Sadie's, knowing her sister could read her like an open book that way. "Alright… Maybe it is important." Sneaking a glance, she caught her sister giving her a death stare and decided it best to in fact spill what was going on. "Tommy wants to have a baby." She confessed, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"Are you serious?" Sadie replied, completely caught off guard of the news. "That's great right?"

Looking up, she eyed Sadie like she was nuts. "Great? I thought you would know more than anyone how me having a kid isn't possible. I mean… I really don't think it's in my deck of cards…" she said quietly; her eyes staring off into her lap again.

Knowing what Jude was talking about, Sadie lightly tapped the table and softened her approach on the sensitive topic they were about to enter. "Jude it's not the same every time." She paused, watching Jude look up and catch her eyes. "It was bad luck, but nothing to be afraid of. Do you know how often that happens?"

She shook her head. "Sadie… I…" her voice started to crack as she took a deep breath trying to hold it together. "An innocent… I had to kill her—"

"No you didn't." Sadie said firmly. "We've gone over this. Both me and Tommy have told you many times that it wasn't your fault. The doctor's said even if you had carried to full term that the baby wouldn't have even lived two minutes."

Jude falling silent was no surprise to Sadie. It'd been a touchy subject and she completely understood how sensitive Jude was over it. "It was a hard time for everyone. You just were getting out of your relationship with Justin and Tommy being with Calie…"

Jude chuckled. "It makes me laugh every time I picture the look on her face when she walked in and saw me there with him." Replaying the memory in her head, she kept a small grin upon her face, knowing another reason she was thankful to have Tommy. "He never moved his arm from around me when she walked in. He didn't let go of me," laughing at the scene, "he didn't even explain why he was with me to her."

A few moments later, her smile faded away. "And then it turned out to be a one night stand gone _wayy_ bad."

Aubrey ran the crayon over the fish in a quick motion bringing the girls attention toward her just in time for the crayon to break in two and fling right at Jude. "Ah," she exclaimed as Aubrey looked up and started giggling.

Sadie reached over and took the crayon, "At least it wasn't juice or spaghetti." She commented.

"Yay." Jude mocked with fake enthusiasm. "Now I really want a kid."

Sighing, Sadie decided to give her another two cents of her mind. "Jude—"

"I'm afraid to let him down again Sades." She confessed, staring down in her lap as she played with her napkin. "He left Calie for a baby that was never brought to this world."

Clearing her throat, Sadie corrected her. "He left Calie for you Jude. Being able to have a baby with you too was just a plus for him at the time."

However, Jude continued to stare into her lap. "I'm scared to let me down too. You just… You don't understand the feeling because you've never had to do it. Tommy thinks he knows, but he doesn't. Not like I do. I mean… I can _not_ do that again."

"I know." Sadie told her, understanding as much as she could.

Trying to change the subject, not wanting to talk about what had happened almost over four years ago she said, "Besides, look how great my past three albums have been? And this one is predicated to hit number one within a week—two tops. And then Darius is going to want a tour…"

Nodding her head, Sadie had come up with a counter attack. "Well what about how great you're doing with Tommy now? Maybe taking his feelings into consideration may help you think this over."

Taken back by her comment, Jude felt the need to defend herself. Just as the waitress came with a ticket to take their order Jude announced, "We had sex last night without a condom, ya know." Not realizing the waitress standing right beside her until those last three words slowly left her mouth.

Standing between the two uncomfortably, the waitress fidgeted with her pen, before clearing her throat and asking, "And how may I help you today?" in a tentative, nervous tone that made Jude hold her head in her hands and sink down in her chair.

With a phone placed closely to his ear, and a golf club held possessively in his hand, Darius paced his office with a smile glued to his face, laughing at what someone on the other line had said. "Well let me tell you Charlie," he began while stopping in front of his desk and leaning against it. "The girl's number one across all North America right now. Her new album is hitting stores in a little over week—a world tour within the next few weeks, man, Jude Harrison will rocket to number one across the world."

Outside his open door, stood Jude listening to every word he was saying, and not doing too good of a job keeping herself calm while doing so. It wasn't much longer that she did stand there before he ended the call and stashed his phone away into his pocket.

"Standing outside eavesdropping isn't always the best way to know what's going on for your career, Jude." She heard from inside his office.

Peeping her head inside she gave him a fake smile, but he didn't look upset. "Hey…"

"And how's my lucky charm doing today?" he asked as he walked over to his putting lane.

She nodded her head. "Not too bad. _Really_ not too bad seeing as you're in this great mood."

Darius laughed. "Outstanding mood would be more proper."

"Yea…" she snickered, before moseying over to join him by his side, "Well, I was wondering if we could talk about what my next step in life should be."

Giving her a curious look, Darius put his putting to a stop as he eyed her suspiciously. "Didn't you hear me booking you a world tour?"

Jude deeply inhaled as she nodded her head. "Yes. But… I'm not so sure that's what I want to do right now."

Hitting the golf ball down the lane, he made it in the hole before looking up to her to give her his full attention. "You want some time off? A month or so?"

"Or nine." She spit out, completely not filtering her thoughts.

His smile had completely faded as he looked to her completely unsure of what she really meaning. "Nine?" he questioned, his eyes quickly shooting to her stomach and back to her, "You're not—"

"No, no. I'm not pregnant, D. It's okay." She clarified before the man had a heart attack.

Not buying her response, he kept his confused glare intact as he asked, "Then why the nine months?"

Feeling totally uncomfortable now, she sighed and lost eye contact with him. "I just… I might want to, you know…" she trailed off and began fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "I'm not exactly that young anymore D, and…" taking Sadie's advice she told him, "Tommy's not a swinging bachelor anymore either."

Darius' features slowly relaxed as he leaned against his desk again, keeping his attention fully on her now. Noticing this, she figured she'd better finish her pitch for some time off before he started digging into their past. "We want to try and start a family."

Giving her an eye of total disbelief, Darius stood up straighter, making Jude feel completely uncomfortable. "_Both_ of you?" he asked, short and simple and almost blunt as could be.

Her heartbeat definitely increased and she swore sweat began to form on her forehead, but she kept eye contact. "I want to make Tommy happy, D."

For a few moments, he studied her. Not looking mad or upset with her decision, but more just taking everything in. "Well, I won't deny you the time off. It's your life, and you know the consequences of your actions. But I'm gonna be straight with you."

Gulping, Jude feared the following words about to come out of Darius' mouth next. "I'm listening."

He nodded. "Good. 'Cause this album is going to kill every other artist right now. You're on a roll that very few artists ever get on, and your fan base is begging for more. I can set up a world tour, but I can also deny one. You've done your job, you recorded the album. Seven amazing albums. While recording those records you do have to abide by my rules, but out of the studio it's totally your call."

Jude nodded, understanding and being ever so thankful at how he was handling this. "I'll be here for whatever you do need, though. Whether it be a world tour, club tour, or a break."

Letting her eyes drift away, Jude nodded her head and mumbled a quiet, "Thank you." before feeling D's hand rest upon her shoulder, instantly bringing her attention back to him.

"You and Tom will make great parents Jude." He said genuinely, as he dismissed himself from the conversation and left the office so she could cope with what had been said. Basically the inner struggle of making music with the man she loves more than life itself, or making a family with the man she loves more than life itself. The struggle part being whether that said man would be there if she didn't chose the right decision.

His foot tapped impatiently on the ground as he waited outside Darius office for Jude to come out so he could rush her away. In his hand was a paper bag that he held securely behind his back with a grip that wouldn't break for anything or anyone.

After what had seemed forever of Jude contemplating what she had wanted to do, finally she came out of Darius' office and quickly felt Tommy take her arm and led her toward the bathrooms.

Sarcastically she greeted. "Hey, babe. How's it goin'?"

Tommy looked over his shoulder and flashed her a smile that she couldn't help but smile back at along with an eye roll. A few seconds later they arrived in front of the bathrooms, and Tommy turned to face her. "I went and bought a test if you wanted to go and see if anything happened the other night."

She knew she wasn't a good enough actress to hide her mood of not being too happy to be doing this. "Sure," she replied while taking the bag and turning on her heel into the bathroom, and leaving Tommy outside the door impatiently waiting for the results. Walking into the stall, she took a seat and unwrapped the test from the bag. Right now, taking this test was the last thing she wanted to be doing.

"God," she sighed again. Her mind wasn't even _close_ to being made, and she really didn't want a piece of plastic making that decision for her. However, she started to feel guilty because of how much Tommy had wanted this, and she basically blew him off a few moments ago. Quickly taking the test, she set the stick on the box atop the toilet and exited the stall seeing Tommy inside the ladies room.

Caught off guard, her breath caught in her throat, but quickly regained composure as she walked over to the sink and washed her hands. "Hey."

"Hi." He replied, pushing himself from the wall and walking over to her, not even half as happy as he was minutes ago. "Jude—"

"I'm sorry." She cut him off, knowing what he was going to say. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

Handing her a towel, he nodded with a sad smile on his face. "I understand." He said, "I get it."

Rolling her eyes, she set the towel aside and reached up to press his lips to hers. "I love you, you dork." She told him while going from tip toe to flat foot.

He chuckled as his hands found a spot securely on her waist. "I love you, too." A few moments after gazing into each others eyes past, a tiny beeping went off from Tommy's watch.

Confused, Jude looked down to his watch, then back at him. "What's that—"

"I got the more expensive one that takes three minutes."

Shocked, Jude's eyes doubled. "Three minutes?" she questioned, causing Tommy to laugh.

"Girl," he began as they walked over to the stall, "It's 2014. I think the DMV's the only thing that hasn't been sped up over the years."

Laughing along with him, she opened the stall and reached for the test, feeling Tommy peering anxiously over her shoulder to catch what the results were, but when she saw the color of the stick, she had wished he hadn't been. However, negative results bought her more time for now, she was terrified to look back at Tommy.

"White… That's, that's negative, huh?" he asked quietly, knowing the answer to his own question.

Taking the box and stick, she tossed them and quickly looked to Tommy. "Babe, it's only our first try." She said, seeing his upset composure. Wrapping her arms around him, she continued to console him, thinking up the best possible things to say in a time when Tommy was anything but happy. "I don't want you getting your hopes up over this, Tom."

Looking down at her, his sad features began to shift to ones of annoyance. "You talk like it could never happen."

"I'm talking realistically." She replied, feeling him pull away from her embrace.

Tommy scoffed. "Realistically," he mocked, "you've already been pregnant, so we _know_ it's possible."

Trying desperately to calm him down over this, "But we can't expect it to happen so quickly is all I'm—"

"No, all you're saying is negative things to get me to change my mind. I want kids Jude. I want to be a father, and that isn't going to change." He told her, their embrace officially broken. "If you want to go on tour so bad just let me know now. Don't beat around the damn bush and drop your hints to try and get me to change my mind."

Her own anger rising, she was to her point that she didn't care he was upset right now. "You know how much you're asking of me right now Tommy?"

"Not much." He answered. "One little thing, Jude. To put me before your career."

She had to laugh as her voice began to rise to match his volume. "You gotta be kidding me?! Tommy you're above everything for me, you know that!"

"Apparently not." Pausing, he ran his hand through his hair, "I'm not telling you to retire Jude, I'm not saying never write again, I'm just asking for a little time with you to do things normal people do. I'm asking for us to try and be a real family. Just try."

Jude didn't reply. Instead she let his words—his bottom of his heart words sink into her head, however a response would have probably done her good.

"I just don't get how you can be so selfish." He said, throwing her anger level up again.

With her hands on her hips, she eyed him unbelievably. "Excuse me, _jackass_?" She replied. "I don't recall selfish moves falling under the category of talking to Darius about canceling a world tour, and taking some time off. Mind filling me in?"

Rolling his eyes and angrily shaking his head at her, he told her, "Okay, then prove me wrong. What'd you decide to do?"

Her mouth fell open to reply, however it was no use, because she couldn't answer him. She didn't know what to do, or what to say, she just… She didn't know.

"S'what I thought." He replied before turning his back on her and exiting the bathroom to find about fifteen people standing outside listening in. "Show's over!" he announced while stalking off down the hall, leaving Jude to sulk, having no idea what to do.

Storming into the coffee shop across the street, Tommy was calming himself down as he took a in the first empty booth he saw. The shop itself was actually quite busy; waitresses hurrying coffees from one table to the next, the line at the bar stretching out a good distance in the shop, and there Tommy sat sulking.

With his elbows on the table, he rested his hand in his palms, pulling at his hair in frustration, thinking over everything that was happening. Was he asking too much from her? Was he being too pushy? He didn't know anymore.

Crossing the room, carrying an empty coffee mug came Jamie, who had noticed Tommy the second he had entered into the shop. "Trouble in paradise?" he asked cockily with a large grin spread across his face.

Tommy looked up and stared at him for a few moments, before just looking back down and continuing to try and clear his head, not needing to sink to his level. However, Tommy ignoring Jamie only made something dawn over him. Clearing his throat, words were spoken from Jamie's mouth that no one would have ever expected. "Sorry, Tommy."

Again, Tommy looked up, this time in shock. Nodding his head, he looked back away from him, but Jamie took the initiative to take a seat across from him. "Everything going okay with you and Jude?"

"Why do you care?" he asked, not needing to be nice to the guy.

Jamie cleared his throat once again, before proudly answering, "She was my best friend for fifteen years, Tommy. I'll always care."

He scoffed before looking up to Jamie to state the obvious. "You haven't as much said one decent thing to me _**or**_ behind my back for seven years. So once again, why do you care?"

Sighing in annoyance, Jamie was starting to wonder why on Earth he took a seat beside him in the first place. "Because I may not have associated with everyone for a while now, but I still saw you. For almost five years now I haven't seen neither you nor Jude upset. Here man, you look like you're ready to fall apart. Everyone needs some advice every now and then. The other day Jude helped me out with Anna and me and Anna are married."

Leaning back in his seat, Tommy decided that Jamie was Jamie and wasn't going to leave him alone. Better to spill his guts and get it over with. "Ya know… Since she agreed to come with me to Asia, it's been like we've been together since. Like we've never broken up."

Jamie gave him a curious look. "What about when your Dad died?"

Caught off by his blunt question, Tommy had to take a breath before composing an answer. "We didn't really break up for right reasons then. We were arguing over if she was going to move in or not, and then I got the news about my Dad and just… I needed air."

Thinking back to the past, Tommy had a hard time dealing with some of the decisions he had made. "It'd been a year since we got back from backpacking… I just… being single was okay for a while, but Jude wanted more and I wasn't ready to step into that again. Not that I wasn't there for her, but…" Tommy deeply exhaled and shook his head. "She _had_ to meet Justin…"

Jamie shuddered by the mention of the name and was surprised Tommy wasn't steaming from the memory. "I remember getting that call."

"Yeah, that bastard's lucky Sadie called the cops before I beat his face in with a baseball bat." Tommy replied, his fists clenching at the memory.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Jamie questioned, "I thought you did beat him up? Jude bailed you out."

He nodded. "Yeah, I attacked him right in front of the police. But I woulda killed him if they hadn't pulled me away."

Now remembering the full story, Jamie nodded his head, "Yeah… Jude had a panic attack she was so freaked over the whole deal."

Fumbling with a straw wrapper Tommy had found on the table, he mumbled, "Another reason I shoulda killed him." Desperately wanting to get off topic, Tommy sat up straighter and looked over to Jamie, but had nothing to say. To say it wasn't an awkward position he was in would be a lie. The last time he shared any words with Jamie was in Jude's house over _seven_ years ago.

"So I'll ask again. What's wrong in paradise?" Jamie asked, noticing Tommy not wanting to talk about Justin anymore. "I know Jude pretty well. The non-romantic part of her side. The friend side."

Quickly Tommy replied, "I know her friend side. She's my best friend, why wouldn't I know her friend side?"

Jamie set his hands up. "I was just saying, I can probably give you some advice if you'd like. I'm sure if you're this unhappy Jude's probably devastated right now."

Tommy chuckled to himself. "That's one way to word it." and when Jamie didn't respond he spilled. "I want to have a baby, but I don't think Jude wants to put everything aside right now."

"She say she doesn't want to have a baby?" he asked.

Shaking his head, "No. But I'm more than sure she'd rather the offer never came up."

"So… Why don't you just give her space to think it over. She's gonna do what she wants to do regardless." Jamie explained, his facial expression showing it as an obvious answer.

Tommy had to agree with that, even though he didn't want to. "And if she chooses not to?"

Having a response come to him, Jamie quickly shifted in his seat, not knowing how to word this. "Then it's your turn to make a choice."

Never in his life had Tom Quincy thought a talk with Jamie would put him in his place. Leave him speechless and looking at everything in a different perspective. However he just couldn't picture if Jude walks away from having a baby if he could actually walk away from Jude.

**First Commercial**

"C'mon, Aubrey. C'mon baby girl." Stuart cooed, as he held his arms out, hoping his grandchild would walk to him.

Coming in from the kitchen, Lauren walked in carrying a glass of tea and a bowl of popcorn. "Lord," she giggled as she walked behind him to get to the couch. "She still shyin' up to you grandpa?"

He looked up to her and smiled. "Ya know," he looked back to Aubrey, "you're a grandma just as much as I'm a grandpa. Isn't that right Aubrey?"

Plopping down on the couch she rolled her eyes at her husband. "Aubrey baby." She called while setting her bowl aside. Instantly Aubrey looked to Lauren. "Come see grandma, baby."

A large toothy grin spread across her face as she turned and slowly took her wobbly steps to her grandma. "Gama!"

Abandoning his current kneeling position, Stuart sat flat out his bottom and chuckled at the scene. "Show off." He commented as Aubrey walked right into Lauren's arms.

"That's my baby girl." she squealed through laughter as she picked her up and hugged her close. Looking to Stuart, she playfully stuck her tongue out to tease him causing him to laugh before sitting himself up and joining her on the couch.

Seconds later, the front door flew open and Taryn barged in, tossing her backpack to the side and closing the door behind her. "Ugh!" she grunted before turning to join her parents in the family room.

Lauren looked over her shoulder as she continued to hold Aubrey close, "Somethin' wrong sweety?"

Whipping her head in a circle, Taryn flew her hair out of her face before shaking her head and announcing, "I've had to made the top of the list on how many times I move back home." she exclaimed. "This is like the fourteenth time!"

"Calm down, Tar', what happened?" Stuart asked, as he felt Lauren hand Aubrey over to him. "You and Speiderman didn't break up again did you?"

"No. But maybe I should dump him." She replied, crossing her arms over her chest and taking a deep breath to calm down. "He got booked for a tour and is leaving town for three months."

Lauren walked around the side of the couch to make sure Taryn was going to be okay when the door opened again, this time Jude walking in, her tone not sounding too happy either. "Dad," she called quietly before walking all the way in to see everyone gathered together. "Hey guys." She greeted, trying to keep composure.

Noticing his daughters tone, he knew something was up. "Everything okay, Jude?"

Her eyes didn't pay attention to anything else but her fathers as she let him read her sad expression. "No." she answered honestly.

His eyes fell sad as he looked to her and held Aubrey close to his chest as he stood up. "Gwampa!" Aubrey cooed as she took both hands and held his cheeks, giggling at the funny face she had made, bringing a smile to even Jude's face.

"I'll take her." Taryn offered, holding her arms out and taking Aubrey from Stuart to let him and Jude go have a talk. "Hey wittle Aubrey." Taryn's voice drifted further away from the two Harrison's as they walked down the hallway into the kitchen.

"So…" Stuart began as they entered the kitchen. Jude didn't reply just yet, knowing her father was going to talk a little bit before she'd even confess to what was wrong. "Judging by the tone of your voice I'd say you and Tommy aren't on even levels right now."

And this was exactly why she had run to her father for guidance and help. He knew her better than almost anyone. Except for Tommy… As she took her seat on the barstool, she didn't have to look up to know he was watching her and studying her behavior. "Tommy and I aren't on even levels."

Stuart nodded. "What's going on?"

Jude inhaled as she tried to process it herself. "Tommy wants to have a baby." She confessed, watching her father cross his arms over his chest and lean back against the counters, taking in the not so small news. It wasn't like previous times they had talked. It wasn't a fight about moving in together—which she had to admit was priceless when she told her father—but having a baby is a huge step.

"You know what I'm going to say right?" he asked straight out.

Jude shrugged. "Do what's going to make you happy?"

"You're better off married first before you have children." He corrected her. "It's always better in the long run. Look at Sadie and Kwest—"

Cutting him off, she almost pleaded with him, "Please don't compare me to Sadie. Not right now. Not when I'm so far lost I can't believe I could drive across town over here."

Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair, and brought it back around to hold his chin in thought. "What _will_ make you happy?"

Another shrug came forth as she leaned forward on the counter and held her forehead in her hands. "Making Tommy happy." She answered honestly. "But…" and words left her. Looking up, but not at her father just yet, she ran her thoughts through her mind. "I'm just… I'm so damn scared Dad."

His features softened as his heart broke for his baby girl. "Jude,"

"I wanted a baby so bad. Me and Tommy were so disappointed, so torn up when we had to…" but she couldn't bring herself to say it. Tears were already threatening to fall, and that was the last thing she could deal with. "I think Tommy's going to break up with me."

Shocked and never in a million years would he have imagined those words coming out of her mouth. "What?"

Not even fighting the rush of tears, she nodded her head while letting her head fall back down. "I can't blame him. I really can't." she cried, quickly feeling a pair of arms wrap around her, pulling her into Daddy's arms. "I love him so much." she said while grabbing hold of his shirt.

Running his hand over her hair, he whispered, "I know. I know you do sweety."

The end of the day finally arrived after the longest day ever, as Tommy walked in the apartment. Setting his keys on the hook, he tossed his jacket on the nearest chair and made his way toward the kitchen to find something to eat. With a clogged head, he didn't want to think of the fight he had with Jude, but as he opened the door to the refrigerator, was when he heard a distant cry.

It took him a second to distinguish that it was crying—Jude's to be exact—and in that second, he closed the door and followed after the cry. "Jude?" he asked, making his way to their bedroom. He was almost certain she would have stayed at her sister's that night. Never did he expect her to come home.

"Girl?" he questioned while opening the door to see her sitting in the middle of the bed facing the wall. She held a pillow in her hands, gripping it with all she had as she quietly cried. But all Tommy had to see was that she in fact _was_ crying, before he took action.

"Girl, what's wrong?" and his arm was around her as he took a seat on the bed, instantly pulling her into him.

Jude didn't hesitate to lean into him, accepting the comfort he was offering. Right now, she was so upset that only Tommy could make her feel better… even though he was the cause of making her cry. "Please don't leave me."

"What?" he asked as Jude's crying became more hysterical.

She let go of the pillow and wrapped an arm around him, clinging to him, not wanting to let go. "Don't leave me. I'm sorry, I'm just… God, Tommy."

"Shh, shh." He dug her head into his chest as he gently rocked her in his arms. "I'm not goin' anywhere, Girl."

Jamie's words played in his mind and his thoughts of what to do if Jude didn't want the same things he does poked at him annoyingly. He could never walk away from her in a million years.

Earlier he may have said to Jamie that when Jude showed up on his doorsteps seven years ago, telling her she loved him too, that she wanted to go to Thailand with him, he swore it's like they'd never really broken up. He was wrong. He knew in that moment he was holding her in his arms, listening to her cry calm down, that she'd been his girl since she came into his life. Even if he didn't know it right away, he knew it now.

"I would never leave you in a million years, Jude." He whispered into her hair. Feeling her shift beneath him, he loosened his hold so she could pull back to look at him.

She could feel the tears about to rush down her face the second she began to speak, but she had to get this out. She had to let him know. "I'm not over it Tommy. I'm so not over what happened before." And her tears returned. "God, I just… I can't. I can't do that again, I just can't."

"Jude, Jude, calm down, take a breath. It's okay." He told her, attempting to wrap his arms tight around her again, but she held her ground needing to get this out.

Shaking her head, she continued, "No, it's not, because _you_ got over it. _You're_ more over it than I am, and ready to try, and I'm just not ready to try yet. I love you, I love you more than anything in the world and all I want to do is make you smile and make you happy." Choking on a sob, she shook her head into his chest as she finished her rant with, "Please don't leave me, Tommy please."

With his chance to hold her close and comfort her, Tommy held onto her for dear life as he shook his head, "I won't. I won't ever leave you."

Getting his things together, Darius was caught off guard from a knock at his office door, and Tommy openly inviting himself in. Giving him a nod, he continued to get the rest of his papers together and slid them into his briefcase as he waved for Tommy to take a seat.

"Thanks, but this is gonna be real quick." Tommy replied, bringing Darius' attention from packing his case to meeting his gaze. "Real quick."

Another nod was given as he leaned against his desk. "Sup, T?"

Putting his thoughts together, Tommy had his eyes away from Darius' as he took a moment before announcing, "Book her tour, D."

Darius gave him a puzzled look. "S'cuse me?" he asked, "I thought—"

Placing his hands up, Tommy silenced Darius before stating once again, "Book her a tour. Give her the largest stadiums, the best nights off, and enough time every week or so to come home for a day and relax. Give her a tour that after ten years of music history making she deserves." He paused before finally looking up to him, "For Jude, Dar. Please."

To be honest, Darius was so far out of the loop he didn't know what to think. One moment Jude's in his office wanting to cancel her tour because Tommy wants to start a family and then Tommy comes in booking for God knows why. "Alright." He replied, as Tommy nodded a simple thank you and headed for the door, using every bit of strength he had to keep himself together. To give up something he truly wanted for her. Something Jude wasn't doing for him.

Walking back into the apartment might have been the hardest thing for him to do that entire day. He was tempted to go have a drink or two, but having Jude home upset didn't comfort him one bit. She needed him, and as much as he didn't want to at that time, he needed her too. He needed her more than he needed air. More than she needed music.

Slowly he removed his jacket and hung it in the coat closet and then toed off his shoes by the door before stepping on the carpet. A pet peeve of hers to have no shoes on the carpet that he never really listened to. But tonight he did. Tonight he did.

As if standing at a crossroad, he looked between the kitchen and the bedroom, debating on where to go. Grab a bite to eat and camp out on the couch for a couple hours, or go and make sure Jude was okay. Not too much time passed before he was on his way down the hall, and even standing in the doorway watching as she had her back to him asleep, he didn't bother to turn around and chose the other option. No, Tom Quincy put a smile on his face and crawled into bed next to her.

Lying on her side, Jude felt Tommy lay down beside her, his chest facing her back and felt his hand play with her hair and she felt the first bit of being content with him in a while. Ready to turn over and let him know she was awake, her actions were put to a halt as she heard him sigh and begin a speech she never saw coming.

Staring down at her sleeping form he saw so many things for their lifetime. So many things. "I want to be upset and mad at you," he whispered, "I want to hit up a bar or go out with the boys, but I can't. Because all those things include you not by my side. All those things leave me missing you and wishing I am where I am now in this moment. With you."

Tommy sighed as he continued to play with her hair. "I promise to always be by your side. To always love you because you mean so much and more to me." Keeping himself together, his breath caught in his throat, but no tears escaped. "You're my best friend. You make me happy even when you do things to make me insanely mad. You make me happy, and I love returning the favor. Seeing you smile, hearing you laugh."

Pausing again, he thought over how he was even going to bring himself to saying this next part. "And… I know you're not ready, and never may be ready to get pregnant, and… It's okay. It's okay so long as at the end of the day you still love me. So long as you'll still have me."

Jude didn't have to lie there for anytime. She knew he had finished what he had to say, and was one hundred percent breathless. Rolling over seconds after he'd finished, the tears in her eyes were visible, for the moon illuminated her face making them almost more visible than any other feature. Placing a hand on his cheek, she ignored his surprised expression and told him, "I'll always have you."

The atmosphere he'd built up was too much to ignore, and her saying those words left him with no self control at all. Feeling his tears build up, he breathed out her name before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers, pulling her body close to his own and wanting nothing more than to get lost in that moment and never get out, but they had to.

After enjoying the few moments of much needed attention, they broke apart to stabilize their breathing and Jude took the opportunity to snuggle as close as she could into Tommy. "Did I wake you?" she heard him ask in a groggy voice.

She shook her head into his chest. "I couldn't sleep without you." She answered honestly. "Thank you for not going drinking."

Smiling, he kissed the top of her head. "Thank you for coming home tonight."

Jude hugged him tighter before telling him, "You're my best friend too. You're the only person I see myself with, and I might not be ready now, but when the time comes…" words left her as she fought to keep herself together and not fill Tommy's head with too much hope, "When the time comes, because you'll be by my side, because you'll be my best friend holding my hand, and telling me I can do this, I'll be okay."

Not being able to help but let her tears fall, she sobbed into his chest, and felt him hold onto her tighter as she finished with, "I'll always be scared, Tommy. I'm scared now, but you always know how to take the fear away. You know the exact ways how to love me." Quiet for a few moments, she felt herself calming down before saying, "Thank you." Pulling back to look at him, she instantly found his eyes. "Thank you so much."

Leaning down he again pressed his lips to hers and the two knew exactly what was coming next. Their kiss grew in intensity and it was as if they were replaying what had happened almost a week ago. However, what Tommy didn't expect was for when he reached for the nightstand drawer to grab a condom was Jude pulling him back and letting nature take its' course.

Walking into studio, Jude was already two hours late, but didn't care. It was a _looong_ night, and two extra hours of sleep made more sense than two extra hours of recording.

"You're late." Sadie commented from behind her computer as her sister walked by.

Stopping in her tracks, Jude looked over seeing Sadie with a sneaky grin on her face. "What's got you so happy?"

"The same thing that should have you so happy." She replied, but instead of giving Jude hints as to what Sadie knew, it only threw her off more.

"Uhm," she walked over to the desk and tried to put something in her mind. "Why should I be happy?"

Sadie scoffed, "What kind of person are you? Gees, if Kwest had gave me half the night that Tommy gave you—"

"Will you keep your voice down?!" she whispered harshly; cutting Sadie off and looking over her shoulder hoping for no eavesdroppers.

Chuckling, Sadie rolled her eyes at her reaction. "Oh, no one cares. It's not like everyone doesn't know you and Tommy are together. Seven years… C'mon, we all know you too get a little personal with each other."

"Oh my God, I am not discussing this with you." Jude said while turning on her heel to run away from a conversation she never wanted to have. However, realization dawned on her, causing her to turn back. "Wait?" Looking back to Sadie, "Who… How did you know what happened last night?"

Answering as if it hadn't been a personal conversation, like she could have easily read it in a magazine, or heard gossip while getting coffee that morning, she replied, "Kwest."

Rolling her eyes in frustration, she didn't have to ask how Kwest had found out. "Ya know, I think I liked it better when Tommy kept almost everything to himself."

"Oh, Jude, calm down." Waving her over, she pulled a chair around so Jude could take a seat. "Come here. Lets chat."

However, Jude shook her head. "I have a Quincy to hunt down."

"Sit!" Sadie demanded, not in a controlling but more as a 'you're not gonna fight me so take a seat' way.

Another eye roll came forth and Jude made her way over and sat beside her sister. "What's up Sadie?" she asked sarcastically.

"Do I really have to ask?" she asked, hoping Jude would dish, whatever there was to dish.

Out of the loop, Jude looked at Sadie as if she were getting more and more nuts. "Ask what?"

"If you decided about the baby or not."

Taking Jude totally by surprise, that never even crossed her mind. Sure she had denied Tommy of the condoms last night, but after that talk they had… All she could think of for the rest of the night was marrying him and having kids and a house and even a dog and tree house in the backyard. "I don't know…"

Sadie sighed. "Okay, lets just look over your history these past ten years, shall we?"

"What?" Jude asked, but Sadie only continued instead of explaining first.

"Rock star meets producer."

Sighing, Jude knew what she was playing. The same game she played every time her and Tommy had an emotional road block and needed to realize the sacrifices they have made for each other. Taking her turn she added, "Producer kisses rock star." She replied with complete lack of enthusiasm.

"Rock star falls in love."

Knowing a good way to get Sadie back for forcing her into this, Jude threw out, "Producer gets hit on by sister and runs away to Europe with her."

Choking up, Sadie never had that option cross her mind that Jude would throw that out at her. "C'mon Jude, this is between you and Tommy stay on track." Chuckling over watching her clam up, Jude shook her head as Sadie went on. "Rock star and producer run away to Thailand together."

"You forgot rock star got her heart broken on her eighteenth birthday." Jude pointed out, seeing Sadie send her a look. "Okay, no details. Producer and rock star date for a year."

"Rock star's afraid to move in with producer."

"Producer breaks up with rock star." She replied, her voice dropping at the memory of their decision when she had come back from tour after her third album had finally dropped eighteen months after they'd started. "Producers' dad dies…"

Wanting to get past the bad, she knew they were getting into a hard year Jude had to deal with and quickly replied, "Rock star and producer take a break."

"Rock star meets Justin… Producer dates Calie… And Justin uses rock star as punching bag."

Quickly to get off the subject, she threw out, "Producer kicks Justin's ass, and dumps Calie."

Still speaking in a low silent tone, she corrected Sadie. "Ah, ah, no. Producer knocks rock star up and _then_ dumps Calie."

"Producer promises to never leave rock stars side."

Hating that she had to be the one to say it, "Rock star loses baby."

Again, being quick on a reply, Sadie said, "And producer hasn't left rock star since."

"Three and a half years later… _the downfall…_" Jude said with almost no emotion. "Until last night."

Smiling, Sadie commented one last thing on her and Tommy's time line. "Tommy's loved you since you were sixteen years old Jude. He loved you when he was with me, when he was with Calie. He loved you when you were with Shay, with Jamie, and Speed and even Justin."

Joking, "He better have."

Sadie laughed. "At least you're in a better mood now, right?"

Jude nodded her head and let a small smile start to come forth. "Tommy and I have been through a lot. He saved me from Hunter, from Justin, and so much more heartbreak if I hadn't been with him."

"So has your opinion changed at all about having a baby?" she had to ask.

Breathing in, Jude had to think it over, but not for long. "Last night, I told Tommy that when I'm ready I'll still be scared. Honestly I'm still terrified. But... he'll hold my hand. He'll walk me through, and if things go bad he'll never leave my side." Sighing, she ran her hands through her hair and groaned in frustration. "I want a baby just as much as he does. And now… Now I know I can do this. I can do anything."

"Because Tommy will never leave you." Sadie filled in.

Nodding, Jude looked over to Sadie with a smile across her face. "Because Tommy will never leave me. Because he will be there at the end of the day and love me unconditionally, and will take my pain away."

Her face softened more and more by the second before Sadie was almost ready to start crying. "Dammit, Jude." She cursed while wiping away a stray tear. "I'm so happy for you guys." She said as more tears escaped her eyes, "When are you going to tell Tommy?"

Jude fell silent, wondering how she was going to let him know. Wondering how she was going to break it to him that she wanted to make him a father. And then it hit her. Quickly standing up, she had her inspiration struck smile across her face as she looked back down to Sadie, "Speid's in studio today right?"

Confused by her sudden subject change, she tentatively looked to her computer screen and saw in fact he was. "Yeah… He's here now, but what does—"

"Thanks! I'll see ya later!" and that was as much of an explanation Sadie was going to get before Jude rushed off in search of Vincent Speiderman.  
_  
"Oh, it could be, a misunderstanding. But the de—eper I go, the more I'm drown—ing."_ The acoustic music filled the room at a higher level, as Speid lost himself in his song, holding his hands over his headphones as he picked his own voice up an octave to sing, _"If what you don't know won't hurt ya, maybe this is better left alone. Until you figure out what's wrong. And, if you chose to leave today, I won't be standing in your way. I can't wait here anymore."_

Dropping down a little, he finished with, _"Some things are better left alone. Some, things are better left alone."_

Clapping from the other side of the glass, Speid opened his eyes and saw Jude, instantly bringing a smile to his face. Looking over to his producer as Speid removed his headphones to join her, she asked, "Matt d'ya mind if I borrow Speid for a little?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "As long as Darius doesn't get upset—"

"Oh, he won't." she guaranteed.

"What won't Darius get mad at, dude?" Speid asked while joining the two.

Jude shook her head. "Don't worry about." She told him while grabbing his hand. "C'mon. We need to round up Wally and Kyle and get a move on."

Confused, Speid was more lost than usual, but didn't have a chance to really question anything before Jude pulled him out to do whatever she had up her sleeve.

It'd been since Jude moved in with Tommy two years ago since she'd walked this hallway to apartment 620. Every month four hundred dollar left her bank account for this place that she couldn't let go, even if she didn't visit it regularly. Now, maybe for the first time in almost four years, her, Speid, Wally, and Kyle were performing together again. Performing and writing, and it didn't even feel awkward.

When SME decided to split up shortly after Karma and Speid ended things, Jude never thought she'd get over it, and didn't realize how much she missed playing with them. Both boys went into college, and got careers similar to the music industry, but never became musicians like Speid had, putting out a total of three albums now.

When the sun had finally set that day, and the band had officially mastered the music and lyrics for the song, it had seemed as if none of the years had passed. Jude felt like she was seventeen again. She felt like they had just recorded 'Worth Waiting For' and were just hanging out, knowing she'd see them at the studio the next day to record it right.

It wasn't like that though. She didn't know how long it'd be before they all got together again like this. After they snuck into G-Major that night, she had no idea how she was going to say good bye again. Hanging out with the SME boys was definitely a time that she could look back on and realize she didn't know what she had until it was gone.

"So," Speid said while grabbing a slice of pizza. "When should the big D be out of studio?"

"And how come we have to sneak in?" Wally questioned, still unsure of Jude's reasoning's.

Swallowing the pizza in her own mouth, she answered, "He should be out in a half hour, and I don't want Tommy to find out we're doing this. It shouldn't take too long to lay this down in studio."

Kyle laughed as he cut in, "'Cause we're still perfect."

Pointing across the room to him, Speid couldn't disagree. "One hundred percent correct."

Laughing along with them, "'Cause we're still perfect." She agreed, a hint of sadness to her tone knowing in a few hours all this was going to be another memory.

Clearing his throat, Wally asked, "So when's our next jam session gonna be, 'cause I think this one's seriously over due."

"Well, Jude's takin' her break here soon, but I'm still finishing on my album that you guys can definitely be apart of."

Smiling, she added, "And I'd never deny you guys when I come back to start recording again."

As if he had to take it into consideration, Kyle held his hand to his chin while thinking it over. "I guess I can agree to it."

Flicking a pepperoni at him, Speid said, "Good." as the pepperoni hit his face, "'Cause if you'd of said no, the whole slice would be in your face."

And no sooner had Speid announced that threat did a piece of pizza collide into his face from Wally's direction. Jude instantly knowing a food fight was about to come forth, ran to hide behind the couch to keep clean, however forgetting who she was with, and feeling a slice hit the back of her head before she could even take cover.

**Second Commercial**

"I want to thank you all for coming out tonight," Darius greeted as Jude's newest single faded out. "I know the album tracks were released earlier this week, but we had a last minute add on."

Looking down to Jude, Tommy was a little confused at what Darius was saying. "Last minute add on? A new song?"

She smiled, and knew he saw it, but was not going to say anything. This was for him. This was for all he'd done for her and her way of telling him everything's going to be okay. She had a plan. She had a plan that would guarantee her happiness for the rest of her life.

Other small gossip had broken out amongst the crowd at Darius' words, but no one other than Jude and SME knew what was going on. Exactly how she wanted it to be.

"I am more than proud to introduce Jude Harrison to the stage tonight, who not only has produced now seven successful records, but has made music history over these past ten years. She's shown the world anything is possible, has hit every roadblock you could imagine, and although stubborn, she all in all is a good person."

Touched by his speech, Jude felt tears sting her eyes as Tommy gave her hand a squeeze, bringing her eyes to his and showing a smile that he totally agreed with what Darius had to say. "And I am also more than proud to introduce for the first time in years, the Speiderman Mind Explosion! Give it up for their new single, 'Feels Like Tonight!'"

Even more lost now, Tommy whispered into Jude's ear, "What's going on?" however that was Jude's cue for the four of them to make their way to the stage.

"You'll see in a minute." Leaning up she kissed his cheek and then made her way through the crowd and up on stage.

By the time she'd made it on stage, the applause had died down, awaiting for a performance. As it was as close to silent as it was going to get, Speid, Wally, and Kyle made their way on stage and cheers were bouncing off the walls. Even the crowd believed it had been too long since the band had been together.

Without any introduction on Jude's behalf, she only looked over her shoulder for Speid to cut in on guitar playing soft repetitious notes as Jude took the mic in her hands. Wally and Kyle were in position, both ready to cut into their own parts once Jude began to sing, both producing a soft beat for the first verse.

_"You, you got me, thinking it'll be alright. You, you told me, 'come and take a look inside.' You, believed me, in every single lie. But I, I failed you, this time."_

The music picked up, as Kyle hit the bass faster and faster and Speid faded out from his repetitious beat to power chords, all entering the chorus. _"And it fe—els, like, tonight. I can't believe I'm, bro—ken, inside. Can't you see that, there's nothing that I wanna do, but try to make it up to you? And it fe—els, like, tonight." _As the music slowed down, she breathed out a small, _"Tonight."_ while catching Tommy's eye and smiling out to him.

Speid was back into the original intro as Jude jumped into the following verse, knowing everything was going just to plan. Her and SME sounded amazing live again, and the reaction she was receiving from the crowd proved her right.

_"I, was waiting, for the day you'd come around. I, was chasing, and nothing was all I found. From, the moment, you came into my life. You, showed me, what's right."_

Once again, the music picked up, and Jude fell more into the song, giving it her all as she sang the chorus once more, Tommy's smile being her world and nothing more at that moment in time. _"And it fe—els, like, tonight. I can't believe, I'm bro—ken, inside. Can't you see that, there's nothing I don't wanna do, but try to make it up to you? And it fe—els, like, tonight."_

The band did a quick transition beat, and Jude quickly jumped into the hook, walking across the stage, and moving with the music as she sang her heart out. _"I never felt like this before. Just when I leave, I'm back for more. Nothing else here seems to mat—ter. In these ever-changing days, you're the one thing that remains. I could stay like this forev—er!"_

Quickly Kyle and Wally paused their playing and Speid went solo, playing the original intro for the song, before Kyle cued himself and Wally back in by hitting the bass quicker and quicker until Jude jumped into the chorus again.

_"And it fe—els, like, tonight. I can't believe, I'm bro—ken, inside. Can't you see that, there's nothing I don't wanna do, but try to make it up to you? And it fe—els, like, tonight."_

Jude hymned out, _"Tonight."_ as Speid stepped up to his own mic, to cover her on background vocals.

_"Fe—els, like, tonight!"_  
_  
"Tonight."_  
_  
"Fe-els, like, tonight!"_

Coming close to the end of the song, Jude put her voice to high limits as she sung out, _"'Cause there's nothin' that I wanna do, but try to make it up to you. And it fe—els, lik—e, tonight."  
_  
The music echoed off the walls as Kyle and Wally retired their instruments for the song, and Jude caught Tommy's eyes, breathing out the last and final word, _"Tonight."_

The crowd couldn't wait any longer to scream their lungs out from the single, totally blowing everyone away. Standing up from his throne, Kyle walked from his drum set, as Wally set his bass guitar down, and Speid threw his own around his back, all joining Jude center stage. A group hug took place as the crowd still cheered crazy—even Darius was out of his seat, just so proud of what she had accomplished.

"Thanks so much guys," she said as they all embraced, trying terribly hard not to cry.

"Don't mention it, Jude." Kyle told her. "It's always fun."

Wally nodded his head agreeing as Speid broke them all apart. "Now, Miss Harrison, I believe you have some speech to give here."

Smiling, she replied, "That I do." Looking out, seeing the crowd still going wild, she reached back for Kyle's hand, who in return grabbed, Speid's, and Wally took Speid's free hand before the band took their final bow once again, causing more screams to erupt.

The mic still in her hand, she waved the boys off as she looked out into the crowd, finding Darius' approving smile, and Tommy's awaiting eyes just showing how proud he was of her. Kwest dimmed the lights, allowing her to see the crowd better as she cleared her throat and began to say her thank yous.

"Thank you all so, so much." She started, watching SME appear in the crowd. "This last record has come a long way, songs all from personal experience since I won Instant Star and I really hope you'll enjoy them.

"As for my next album," pausing, she searched the crowd and came back to find Tommy before announcing, "It's getting put on hold for a while now."

Many gasps were heard around the room and small talk instantly broke out, but it didn't bother her. It didn't bother her because in the back of the room, Sadie and Kwest were smiling up at her, closer to the front, SME were nodding and giving encouraging smiles and the one that mattered most of all, was the touched look on Tommy's face. From all the feet away, she could make out his eyes watering and knew it was time to carry on.

"I'm taking some time off to have a baby with the man I love. To start a family." She announced, her eyes never leaving Tommy as smiles covered the confused looks of people across the room. "And," she paused, bringing the courage forth she swallowed her worry and slowly brought herself down to one knee, her own tears coming forth.

Never remembering ever being this nervous before, both Jude and Tommy kept eye contact and the crowd was divided between watching the two and the scene taking place before them. "And if Tommy would…" Catching her breath, her tears left her eyelids, but never once stopped smiling. "If he'd have me for the rest of my life, and let me take his name, I'd never be happier."

Looking down for the first time since she began to announce everything, she pulled herself together, as she caught eye contact with Tommy for a final time. "Tom Quincy, will you marry me?"

Now the majority of the room had their eyes on Tommy, but he blocked them out. It was just him and Jude. Walking through the crowd, his eyes remained on hers as his pace slowly quickened before he was running to the stage and in one quick motion he hopped up and threw his arms around her body, picking her up and kissing her with all he had.

Applause broke out again as Tommy held her off the floor and in his arms, his kiss telling her yes. His kiss telling her thank you. His kiss telling her he loved her.

With her arms wrapped around his neck, she broke away and was set back on the stage; their foreheads resting against each others as she looked into his eyes and never remembered being so happy before. She'd asked him to spend the rest of his life with her and he said yes, however her news for the night wasn't done. "There's something else." She told him, not into the mic so it was only his ears.

Not knowing what else she could possibly tell him, he looked at her curiously, the smile still on his face. "What?"

She broke eye contact to look down before looking back up at him with the sweetest smile. "You're going to be a father, Tommy." She said through tears.

Catching his breath he was glad he'd previously lowered her back to the ground, for those words made his own knees go weak. Needing to double check, "I'm… I'm going to be—we're going to be _parents?_"

She nodded her head as she pursed her lips together, but the tears came down anyway. "Yes." She told him, his happiness filling her heart with even more love for him. Without being able to hold out any longer, she tightened her embrace and hugged him as close as possible.

"God, I love you." He whispered into her hair.

And those were the only things she needed to hear to know she'd be okay. Knowing he loved her meant she could go through anything. She could conquer the world because the man she'd given her heart away to ten years ago is going to be the father of her child, and has promised to be with her for the rest of her life.

Knowing all this, Jude slightly broke the embrace, to hold onto his face as she kissed him again, soft and sweet and with the knowledge that everything in her life will always be okay now.  
_  
The end_


End file.
